Gribz 850 Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 With Pre-season friendlies well under way I thought id kick up a debate prior to the Champions League qualifiers. Over the summer weeks we have spoke about players coming in and out and all the rumours. But after getting plenty additions for the squad it looks as thought the trolley is full and we are at the check-outs after spending the best part of 6 million. Whether those who have came in are good enough is another debate, we all believe the depth in the squad is better but we all agree we could have been done with a higher profile name or two to go straight into the starting line up. So, after 2 trophyless seasons what must our realistic targets be for this season? and are we well enough equipped to meet that targets? Lets break it down into each competition we will enter. SPL - Finishing 3rd 2 seasons ago was a wake up call and last season we expected huge improvement only for it to get worse. If Walter Smith did not arrive then its anyones guess where we would have finished. But he improved us and we created a gap between ourselves and the pack chasing 2nd place. This season Smith doesnt have the excuse he is steading the ship - thats been done. However we did look the more stronger in the 2nd half of last season. We need to get off to a good start and the silly results against the bottom sides must be erased. Smith has shown he still knows how to get the better of Celtic so let that continue. The aim IMO is to win the league, its certainly not out of our reach, but at the minimum we have to at least be in the hunt by easter and not have it all over by Halloween. Domestic Cups - The less said about last years runs the better. They were nothing less than embarrassing. The 90s saw us winning cups left, right and centre but we havent been to Hampden for a Scottish cup final for 5 years now. Again IMO we should be looking to lift one of the cups, preferrably the Scottish cup. Europe - Champions League qualification is a MUST for financial reasons and to give us something to look forward to. It is also huge to get us progressing again on the park. Are we equipped to take on the big boys - No, probably not yet but we will still give it a crack. A good run would be to finish 3rd in a group (depending who we draw) and then entering the UEFA cup after Xmas. Anything more from the CL is a bonus, but we cant let Celtic go on and have another crack at it while making 10 million in the process while we are not even in it. Time will tell Bears but I expect us to be stronger domestically than the previous 2 seasons. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,720 Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 TBH i'm expecting to win the SPL and a cup and at least qualify to the group stages of CL,not too much to ask IMO,i really think we are much stronger and i also expect players to improve on last year, Burkie,Thomson,Adam,Sebo and i even expect Hutton to take his game on and show the form he showed towards the end of the season,so i do expect us to start winning silverware again. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza_8 233 Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 SPL - 2nd but it'll be a whole lot closer this season than last. Dometic cups - hopefully win at least 1 if not both. CL - Failure! I doubt we'll qualify for the group stages of it. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Ally 0 Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 SPL - win Cups - hard to predict outcomes in a cup comp. Would be nice to win the Scottish cup. CL - Group qulification. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisabeer 409 Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 i just want to see a better standard of football than we have seen over the last two seasons. as long as were competing ill be happy. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
H1ndy 0 Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 i just want to see a better standard of football than we have seen over the last two seasons. as long as were competing ill be happy. same here along as we are competing and playing a decent brand of footie i'll be a happy man 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Ally 0 Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 same here along as we are competing and playing a decent brand of footie i'll be a happy man Disagree would rather play ugly and win the league. Winning comes first for me, the attraciveness of the football is secondary. Guess it comes back to a topic we had on here before. Particulalry with sky television coming into football, football has become about the entertaiment offered when before that never really mattered. Did anyone care that Celtic fans claimed they played better football under Burns when we were consistently gubbing them in niar? Did we f*ck. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whosthedado 1,680 Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Realistic expectations A close 2nd in the SPL One of the cups Staying in European competition beyond Christmas. It depends what is meant by expectations because at Rangers not that long ago we would 'expect' a treble and a really good run in Europe. How times have changed! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
juffery 0 Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 We have to get some silverware this year. The last 2 seasons, I've always said as long as I could see progress I would be happy to give up the league. Not this year. This is our 3rd manager in 3 seasons, we have to win the league. And, I couldn't give 2 shits about entertainment. If we lose the league again, we'll just keep slipping further and further behind. And we must make at least the group stages of the Champ League. We need the money. SPL - 1st Scot Cup - semis League Cup - Win Cheamp League - Group stage, probably third (although difficult to judge until we know what we're up against) 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 I am going to be pessimistic going on what i saw last season and what i saw on Sunday. We have done totally nothing in the motor of the team and i just don't think we are good enough in that department. From what i saw on Sunday i was impressed by Cuellar and McCulloch but it ends there. I saw an amateur mid-mid giving our midfield more problems than we gave him. Honestly i think we will again struggle against the Calley's, Motherwell's etc, simply because we lack imagination. With Cuellar i believe we are far stronger at the back and he looked impressive on the ground and in the air winning all high balls thrown at him. In saying that, that is the difference between an amateur team and a prof team, one foot in jumping strength and a couple of yards in speed. I hope i am wrong but i fear we lack the capacity to break down defences, I hope for a treble i fear for another bad year. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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